Tuesday, January 10, 2017

THE GREATEST LOVE STORIES EVER TOLD: The Prince Who Wanted To Be Like Everyone Else ... But Wasn't

Posted by Author R. Ann SiracusaWhen I consider "The
Greatest Love Stories", I never think of them in terms of a contemporary
settings. My instincts and preconceived ideas lead to the conclusion that such
stories are myths, legends, ancient history, or fiction.

First, because there
are many contemporary love stories – nearly everyone has or knows one -- but we
only hear about those involving celebrities. Second, because the more
contemporary the event, the more people there are with personal knowledge, who
will leak information or write about the truth or a version of the truth.
Details and differences of opinion make situations overly complex. Third, given
enough time, everyone knows how the story ends.

Case in point is the story
of Prince Edward and Wallis Simpson, which is considered by many as one of the
greatest contemporary love stories. After all, Prince Edward gave up the throne
of England to marry the woman he loved because the monarchy would not accept
her as queen.

When I started my
research, I expected this love story to have a somewhat happy ending in spite
of the many sacrifices made -- but nothing in life is what it seems.

WALLIS SIMPSON

Bessie Wallis
Warfield was born in June of 1896. Her father, who came from an affluent and distinguished
family, died shortly thereafter, and for the first few years, she and her
mother were supported by her father's wealthy bachelor brother, the postmaster
of Baltimore. Then, they moved in with her mother's recently-widowed elder
sister, until they could get an apartment, and later a house, of their own.

Wallis' uncle paid for her to attend the most expensive girls' school in Maryland, where she was at the top of her class. Although not classically beautiful, she was always immaculately dressed and pushed herself hard to do well. She also loved breaking the rules and shocking people with brash behavior.

In 1916, she married
Earl Winfield Spencer, Jr., a U.S. Navy aviator. He turned out to be an abusive
drunk, and after several long, unavoidable separations, they divorced in 1927.
Her second husband, Ernest Aldrich Simpson, a shipping executive, divorced his
first wife and married Wallis in July, 1928, and they moved to England.

First WeddingSecond Wedding

Through a friend, Wallis met Thelma, Lady Furness who was, at the time, the mistress of Edward, Prince of Wales and heir to the English throne. In 1931, Lady Furness introduced Wallis to the prince at a party.

It was not love at
first sight. They exchanged a few polite words, and didn't have anything to do
with each other for the rest of the party. Over the next several months, Wallis
and her husband ran into Prince Edward at other parties, and eventually he
became their friend.

PRINCE EDWARD

Prince Edward, later King
Edward VIII, was born Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David [Whew!] in June of 1894 to the Duke and
Duchess of York [the future King George V and Queen Mary], their first child
and heir to the throne. He was followed by four brothers [one of whom died at
14] and a sister.

According to his biographers, he feared his strict father and believed his parents were cold and
distant. One biographer says that "as an unloved child, Edward had an
overwhelming need to be dominated and to adore."

At the age of 12, he
was shipped off to the Naval College at Osborne, then attended Dartmouth. He
later wrote that during those years he wanted desperately to be treated like
every other boy his age.Denied a military commission during WWI because of his status as heir to the throne, he argued his case with the Sectary of War. Ultimately, he was commissioned in a position under the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force. Although stationed far from the front, he did witness some of the horrors of war and gained the respect of the common Brit simply because he wanted to be there.

By the age of
twenty-three, Edward had the reputation of being a playboy who preferred
married women. Mrs. Winifred (Freda) Dudley Ward was his mistress for 16 years.
He also had a long term relationship with Viscountess Thelma Furness, the
sister of a friend of Wallis Simpson.

In 1931, the prince met
Wallis and Ernest Simpson at one of Thelma's parties, but was not particularly
impressed. Four months later, they met again at another party. Seven months
after that, he was invited to the Simpson's house for dinner. The Prince and
the Simpsons became good friends, and they exchanged invitations for two years,
until 1934 when Thelma Furness took a trip to the United States.It's not clear
if Thelma asked Wallis to look after the prince while she was gone, or Wallis
suggested it. Each said, later, it was the other's idea.

THE PLOT THICKENS

During her absence,
Prince Edward invited Wallis and Ernest on a cruise. Ernest had prior
commitments, but Wallis accepted. She wasn't alone with him, of course, and
even her own Aunt Betsy was among the group. Chaperones or not, that was when
their friendship crossed over the line to love. The fling was kept under wraps,
but when Thelma Furness returned to England, she had been replaced by Wallis.

According to Ann
Seeba, author of "That
Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor", Wallis Simpson
was a flirt and "thought she could control the ardor of the Prince of
Wales.

After all, the last thing she [Wallis]
wanted was to risk losing her easy-going husband Ernest. And, gosh, Prince
Edward could be tiresome, telephoning her at home two or three times a day and
dropping by so often that she was actually starting to miss her other
friends."

Ernest, himself, considered
the affair as a coup and had reaped economic and social rewards, such as being admitted
into the Prince's mason's order. He and Wallis both expected Edward to become King
soon and knew the affair would have to end.

The royal family
abhorred Wallis, particularly Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Duchess of York and wife
of the prince's brother Albert, who moved in the same social circles as Wallis.
There are indications that at one time Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was romantically
interested in Edward, even that she was in love with him.It's hard
to guess whether or not Wallis understood what the Prince was really like. For
years, he suffered from undiagnosed anorexia nervosa
— an illness often related to a wish to remain eternally childlike, exemplified
by his letters in his teens to his mistress Freda.Psychologist
Simon Baron-Cohen ties the Prince's dependence on a mother figure, and some of
his other quirks, to typical characteristics of Asperger’s Syndrome. Several other people who were close to Prince
Edward [such as Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, Lord Wigram, and the Archbishop
of Canterbury], believed he was abnormal psychologically and possibly
physically. More important, the Royal Family's doctor, Lord Dawson of Penn, believed
his moral development had been arrested in his teens.His fixation on
Wallis was more likely his mental condition than true love.

Regardless, Edward became
obsessed and showered her with clothes, jewelry, and other expensive gifts. He
also expected her to devote all her time to him. Instead of calling it off, she
tried, with no luck, to manipulate him to back off a little by taunting him and
reducing him to tears in front of others. As the emotional drama escalated,
with the royal family and public opinion in the mix, Edward retaliated with
emotional blackmail and warned if she left him, he would kill himself.

[Somehow, this isn't sounding like a great love story to
me!]

THE KING GEORGE V DIES

Just to complicate matters,
King George V died in January 1936, and Prince Edward became King Edward VIII
of England. Rather than becoming bogged down by royal responsibilities, Edward ignored
them and continued to court Wallis. His major focus, instead of being on
ruling, was on how to make Wallis queen … although she was still married to
Ernest and wanted to stay that way.

At one point, Prime
Minister Stanley Baldwin and the Archbishop of Canterbury agreed that marriage
between the king and Simpson could not be allowed but, eventually, negotiated
an agreement with Ernest to divorce Wallis. [That
doesn't make a lot of sense, but there were a zillion details involved.]

Edward was King of
England for 326 days. During this time, he threatened to abdicate unless Wallis
could be queen. Wallis begged him not to abdicate and to just let her go.
According to biographers, she had no desire to be queen and wanted Ernest back.

The whole thing became
an international scandal. Everyone crucified Wallis and called her every ugly
name in the book. It was clear the royal family, the public, and the Church of
England would never allow Wallis Simpson, a woman divorced twice with both
ex-husbands still living, to become queen. For her protection, Edward sent her
to France.

After one year, Edward
VIII abdicated, giving up not only the crown but his privileges as a member of
the royal family. He was exiled from England. He married Wallis Simpson in
France on June 3, 1937, in a subdued ceremony which was not attended by anyone
in the royal family.

AND
THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER

Shouldn't a Great
Love Story either end in tragedy [as did most great love stories in myths,
legends, and ancient history] or Happily Ever After?

Yeah, well, that's
the problem with contemporary stories. TMI. Like I said, we know how the story
ended.

In spite of being
exiled from England, Prince Edward was granted the title Duke of Windsor by his
brother, King George VI, but the Duchy and title dissolved upon Edward's death in
1972.

After Wallis and
Ernest divorced in 1937, Wallis continued to correspond with him, even on her
honeymoon. It was clear he had been the love of her life, and she regretted
losing him.

The Duke and Duchess
of Windsor remained married for the rest of their lives [thirty-six years], but
whether or not it was a happy marriage is highly debatable.

They lived in France and went through the motions, and everyone thought it was an HEA. They traveled some and commuted between France and New York, entertaining in both
locations and participating in charitable events. During World War II Edward
was appointed as governor of the Bahamas, which Wallis considered a punishment.

Biographer Seeba
paints a dreary picture of the last thirty years of their marriage. "Their lives were defined by each other, the
past, and aesthetics: decorating, shopping, holding formal dinners, being
noticed by the newspapers. They were bitter toward the royal family, and Wallis
was eternally frustrated that she no longer held the interest of people at high
levels of society, government, or the arts."

“Nothing else in his [Prince
Edward's] life gave him any sense of achievement other than his marriage to
Wallis,” Sebba writes. “For her, the slavish devotion was at times
claustrophobic, and she was not afraid to show it. But love is impossible to
define and in their case especially so."Nonetheless, she writes, "Few who knew them well described what they shared as love."

Bummer!

AND
SPEAKING OF LOVE STORIES

DESERT BREEZE PUBLISHING IS RE-RELEASEING THE ENTIRE
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE SERIES

4 comments:

It's sad that they weren't happy. I can see a different picture of their relationship now. Sometimes we don't really know what we want and the outside world has their own perspectives which can change how a relationship is seen.

I felt bad for Willis to have to live with a man for 32 years that smothered her with such possessive love, yet she must have loved him enough to stay with him, but of course during that time period, things were different for women. I enjoyed your article.

I was completely fascinated by this. When I was a real estate agent I had a client who knew them both. He said she disliked David and resented being forced to marry him. She was stride ahead of him at times, snapping her fingers and saying "Come along, little man." At least that was the story my client told to me. Thank the Lord I don't move in those circles!!!!!

Jean, the bio said she called him "little man" and had before they got involved. It's strange because everyone thinks of it as such a compelling love story. I was a little disappointed to realize that it wasn't. I think I'll look at a fictional love story next. At least those probably have HEA.